Conversation Piece (Visconti, 1974): BFI Southbank, NFT2, 8.30pm
This 35mm presentation (introduced by critic Phuong Le), and also screening on January 13th, is part of the Luchino Visconti season at BFI Southbank. Full details here.
Time Out review:
A parable about the approach of death, this centres around a slightly
Prospero-like professor (Burt Lancaster incarnating a role similar to the one
he played in The Leopard) who finds his carefully nurtured,
opulent solitude upset by the eruption into his life of a wealthy woman
(Silvana Mangano) and her chaotic jet-set entourage. Helmut Berger, for whom the film
on one level seems a valedictory love-song, plays an angel of death
figure, to whom a certain mystery attaches. If the dolce vita-style
intrusion is given distinctly Jacqueline Susann-like overtones by the
rather dissociated dialogue in the English language version, Conversation Piece nevertheless comes across as a visually rich and resonant mystery, far more fluid and sympathetic than Death in Venice.
Verna Glaessner
Here (and above) is the trailer.
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